Israel Adesanya once again proved that he’s one of the best pound-for-pound athletes in MMA when he outpointed former champion Robert Whittaker to retain his undisputed UFC middleweight title at UFC 271.
Adesanya’s performance in Houston was as clean as it was classy as he remained one step ahead of Whittaker, who delivered a noticeably improved performance from their first meeting. But, despite being competitive throughout and enjoying the better of the exchanges in the final round, Adesanya’s victory on the scorecards had already been assured as “The Last Stylebender” cemented his dominance of the UFC’s 185-pound division.
On this week’s episode of The Brit Pack MMA Podcast, we take a look back at UFC 271 and give our reaction to that Adesanya performance. We share our scorecards, talk tactics and discuss the likely next steps for both men. It’s fair to say Adesanya’s path seems much more straightforward than Whittaker’s right now.
We also look back at the explosive co-main event as Tai Tuivasa stunned Derrick Lewis in front of “The Black Beast’s” hometown fans, and the pivotal middleweight bout between Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson, which may well have determined the next challenger to Adesanya’s title reign.
Finally, we take a look ahead to the UFC’s return to the Apex this coming weekend, with light heavyweights Johnny Walker and Jamahal Hill set to take centre stage in the newly-promoted main event following the rescheduling of the “Rafael Derby” between Rafael Dos Anjos and Rafael Fiziev.
Enjoy the show, and if you haven’t already, hop over to our YouTube channel and hit that subscribe button. We’ll be switching to video VERY soon, and we’d love to bring you along for the ride!
Israel Adesanya distances himself from the pack at UFC 271